22 September 1891
at 151 Reidhaven Road, Plumstead, London[registered in
Woolwich, December 1891].Attended the High Street School in
Plumstead, admitted on 20 June 1898, discharged 22 July 1903. From
here he attended Bloomfield Road School, and then Woolwich
Polytechnic.

Census Notes

According to the 1891 census,
Scots-woman Jane Buchan is pregnant with the child that would become
Charles. His Scots-father, William, is a blacksmith, and they live at 151
Reidhaven Road in Plumstead. along with siblings, Jeannie, William and
Thomas Murray.According to the 1898 admission register for his
school, they were still living at 151 Reidhaven Road in 1898.

According to the 1901 census,
Charles is the fourth child of five to Scots-father William and Jane. They
live at 8 Nyanza Street in Plumstead. His father is a blacksmith.

According to the 1911 census,
Charles Murray is a professional footballer residing at the Grand Hotel in
Bridges Street, Sunderland. He had just signed for Sunderland AFC.According to his army records, he was living at 19 Side Cliff Road in
Roker, Sunderland.And according to the London Electoral Rolls, Charles
and Ellen were living at 27 Mayfield Gardens in Hendon in 1928. Although
by 1931 until at least 1934, they were living at 77 Templars Avenue, also
in Hendon. By 1951, until his death, they were living at 22 Millbrooke
Court in Putney. And according to the British Phone Books, could be
contacted there at VANdyke 4795.

Married

to Ellen Robson [registered in Sunderland, Durham, March 1914].

Died

25 June 1960
at Beaulieu-sur-Mer, south France,
aged
68 years 326 days[not registered in England]. Living at
22 Milbrooke Court in Keswick Road, Putney, at the time. Left £17,818
11s. 11d. to his widow, Ellen. He was on holiday at the time,
when he suffered from a heart attack.
He was cremated in Marseille, although his ashes reside in the
chapel of rest at Golders Green crematorium, his ashes are in a
niche in the hall, top floor on the North Wall, number 5793. A
memorial service was held at St Bride's Church in Fleet Street. -
The Colonel, ReadyToGo

Height/Weight

6'
1", 12st.
1lbs [1921].

Source

Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & Ancestry.com

Biographies

A Lifetime in
Football - Charlie Buchan (Phoenix House, London 1955)

He of Football Monthly fame
enjoyed a distinguished career with Sunderland and Arsenal from 1910 to
1928 before becoming a sportswriter and BBC radio broadcaster, noted for
his 7.25 evening summaries of the Saturday's play. Few autobiographies
speak with such authority about football prior to Word War One and into the twenties; this is a very informative work.
- A Football Compendium, Peter J. Seddon (1999).

Club Career

Club(s)

Started
his football career at left-back playing with the Woolwich Polytechnic FC
team of the Kent Senior League. He was moved to a forward position after
scoring five goals in one match. He also played with his local church
side, Plumstead St. Nicholas FC. Buchan also turned out for Plumstead FC
and also Elder Tree FC. It was from the Polytechnic, where Buchan was
training to be a schoolmaster, that Woolwich Arsenal FC signed him as an
amateur in December and played him in the reserves. During which, he
signed amateur forms with Northfleet FC in November 1909, of the Kent
Keague. After a successful 1909-10 season, Buchan was offered the chance
to sign for Bury FC, and then Fulham FC, both were turned down. Then in
May 1910, Leyton Orient FC offered Buchan a healthy wage to sign him, and
he duly signed. Although Arsenal complained, because he was still on their
books. Sunderland AFC paid £1250 to take him there on 30 March 1911.
During the War he played with the Guards Depot before guesting for Chelsea
FC, Birmingham FC and Huddersfield Town AFC. After 370 league
appearances and a record 209 goals, The Arsenal FC re-signed
Buchan in July 1925 for a £4100 transfer fee, for the 1925-26
season, Sunderland would also receive £100 for every goal he scored
for his new club. After 49 goals in 102 league appearances,
he retired in May 1928.

After the game
on 15 February 1913 against Ireland, Buchan got involved in a argument
with a member of the FA Select Committee. As a result he was dropped
from the team.
Charlie Buchan could easily have played for the Scotland national team,
through his Scottish parents, who came from Aberdeen. He was asked to play
for them in 1912.

Beyond England

Buchan volunteered for the Grenadier
Guards, and served in the trenches, and was awarded the Military Medal for
bravery. He finished the war as a second lieutenant with the Sherwood
Forresters. Buchan took up teaching at Cowan Terrace School, near Park
Lane in Sunderland, but could not carry on due to his professional career. Went
into journalism in 1928 as football and golf correspondent of the Daily
News and, on that paper's amalgamation, the News Chronicle. He also did
football commentary on BBC Radio. In 1951, became the editor of the newly
launched Football Monthly. - An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who.
Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.52.

Due to the fact that
many matches rarely stuck to exactly ninety minutes long, allowing time
for injuries, errors and substitutions. The minutes here
given can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only
an approximation.